FIELD OF THE INVENTION
As a rule, loads carried under aircrafts comprise a pair of tapped holes disposed along a common longitudinal generatrix at a standard relative spacing. Ring means are screwed in said holes for suspending the load under carrier devices provided with hook means adapted to engage said ring means.
In certain cases and according to an increasingly popular technique, so-called "saddles" are substituted for the ring means. Each saddle comprises on the one hand a pair of opposite lateral recesses engageable by the two noses of a twin hook and on the other hand a flat top surface adapted to hold the suspended load against lateral motion by means of wedge members. Moreover, these saddles comprise a substantially cylindrical cavity of which the axis is coincident with that of the relevant tapped hole. The function of this cavity is to center a male cylindrical member rigid with the carrier device or mechanism so as to prevent longitudinal and transverse movements of translation, as well as any yawing, of the suspended load.
Aircraft operators may be led to use either loads equipped with rings, or loads equipped with saddles. The Applicants already filed on July 1st, 1976 a U.S. Pat. application under No. 701,708 reciting a device for carrying loads equipped with either of the above-mentioned systems, and characterised in that said device included a dual purpose hook that must be turned the other way so that its operative face offers either a single hook or a twin hook, according to the type of carrier system to be coped with.